McDonald’s free coffee is the latest hand played in the Taco Bell vs. McDonald’s breakfast bout to entice the customers. Taco Bell may have a handful of Ronald McDonald’s eating their breakfast, but even these guys will stop by McDonald’s for their free breakfast coffee.

Taco Bell rolled out their new breakfast menu on Thursday after airing an ad campaign with a bunch of guys with the real name of Ronald McDonald eating Taco Bell breakfast offerings. Taco Bell has made no secret of trying to entice McDonald’s breakfast crowd over to their side of the street. Apparently McDonald’s cup of free breakfast coffee is the next step at enticing them back, according to CNN Money on March 28.

Starting Monday, participating McDonald’s will be giving each breakfast customer a free 12-oz. coffee. The corporate office has left it up to the individual McDonald’s to offer refills on those coffees or not.

Chances are the McDonald’s that do offer those refills will be right around the corner from a Taco Bell. For the rural McDonald’s restaurants that are miles and miles away from a Taco Bell, there would be no need to give refills because Taco Bell won’t be their competition.

Taco Bell’s approach to breakfast is to offer something different than the other fast food restaurants, who make a killing with their breakfast sandwiches. Taco Bell overs a waffle taco that is stuffed with eggs, cheese, bacon or sausage served with syrup.

McDonald’s has seen a decline in their breakfast sales and they are considering expanding their breakfast hours. They cut off the breakfast menu at 10:30 a.m., but on the weekend many folks are just getting out of bed at this time. The McDonald’s near college campuses would probably do much better with breakfast sales extending past 10:30 in the morning, especially on the weekend.

The restaurant under the golden arches is also testing a new chicken and waffle breakfast sandwich as an offering that's a bit different than everywhere else. That doesn't sound appealing, but you never know! McDonald’s will also surprise a Twitter follower every day for the year. They will be giving away McCafe coffee and prizes starting in mid-April.

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Roz Zurko is a freelance writer originally from Milford, Conn. Today she writes from her home at the foot of the Berkshires in Massachusetts. Her articles have appeared in magazines, newspapers and online. She has been a guest author on BBC radio and her online articles are read by more than a million people each month.